New leaders have to push a binding global rule of law

By Michel Rocard

The newspaper commentaries that I write often have a dark perspective. Sadly, this one is to be no different. However, there are two pieces of good news that break through the gloom.

First, the global significance of US President Barack Obama’s re-election is clear: The world has escaped a disaster for international cooperation. The US was on the verge of sinking into isolationist nationalism, reinforced, perhaps, by xenophobic sentiment. Obama’s victory, despite the US’ economic travails, clears the way for cooperation based on a sympathetic ear to others and on negotiations in which the US does not deny the legitimacy of a global public interest (as it has done, unfortunately, on the issue of climate change).

The other piece of good news concerns France, and thus is more “local,” but is crucially important nonetheless. Like everywhere else in the developed world, the global crisis has hit the French economy hard, with output stagnating, unemployment rising, job insecurity mounting, government debt soaring and the stock market at risk of crashing. Manufacturing production has plummeted, the trade balance has deteriorated sharply and corporate bankruptcies are increasingly frequent.

For six months, France has had new leadership — a new president, government and parliament. However, French President Francois Hollande and his government were strangely inactive after the elections, limiting themselves to reducing the impact of unfair budget cuts and taxation reforms implemented by the previous government of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy. Many began to wonder whether Hollande was aware of the scope of the crisis that the recent downturn might trigger.

However, in recent weeks the government has introduced energetic and courageous measures to boost the competitiveness of French industries, including a huge 20 billion euros (US$26 billion) tax break for businesses, to be financed by a hike in value-added tax (VAT), which means that the general public will pay for it. The VAT increase will hurt, but there was no other way. Awareness, boldness, and comprehensive policymaking have come as a relief to French investors and have left them better positioned to face the crisis.

The French government’s new push to confront the country’s economic plight matters not only to France, but to Europe and the world as well. After all, France is the eurozone’s second-largest economy and the fifth-largest economy in the world.

And yet, despite these bright spots, international cooperation on issues ranging from regional conflicts to the protection of global public goods remains weak. Antarctica, the only land in the world that is administered directly by the international community, is a recent case in point.

The Antarctic Treaty, negotiated in 1959, prohibits any and all military activities in Antarctica and forbids the establishment of any borders. Three agreements — the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals (1972), the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR, 1980) and the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (PEP, 1991), which prohibits any activity relating to mineral resources — have since been added to the treaty.

The Antarctic Treaty System includes three annual meetings: One deals with the supervision and management of the treaty itself, and the other two concern the CCAMLR and the PEP. In recent years, proposals have been considered that would establish marine reserves around the continent and end the risk of growing scarcity, or the outright disappearance, of a variety of species of fish and cetaceans.